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There are many dangerous things Christians like to do. One of them is to anthropomorphize God.

Anthropomorphize: (verb) to attribute human form or personality to things not human

And so often, in our quest to understand God’s nature and character, we compare him to us, even though the bible says very clearly in Numbers 23:19 that “God is not a man.”

Case in point: “God is your heavenly Father.” And the way we explain this is by saying things like, “So God is kind of like your dad” (or worse, “So God is kind of like you”).

Now, to be fair, we do say that God is better than our human dads. But still, we often start with ourselves. We tell people to look at their human parents, and then move the goodness bar a little higher, and eventually you’ll get to God.

But we have things entirely backwards. We were never supposed to anthropomorphize God. To say “He’s like us, only better” is to grossly understate how good and infinite and perfect He actually is.

We should never anthropomorphize God; rather, we should dei-pomorphize us.

Dei-pomorphize: (verb) to attribute Godly form or personality to things not God

When it comes to fatherhood, we shouldn’t say,

“Well, you’re a father, and you love your kids and provide for them and try your darndest to be fair and teach them how to live. Sure, you make mistakes, but all in all you’re pretty good. But God is better.”

We should say,

“God is perfect. He is holy. He never lies. He leads flawlessly. He always knows what to do. No weapon formed against His kids prospers. He supplies all of their needs. He teaches us all things. And He does all things well. He’s also your Heavenly Father. Therefore, earthly fathers, be more like the perfect Father.” (By the way, Matthew 5:48 says you can be perfect like the Father, so this isn’t an entirely ridiculous expectation.)

I mean, I am just a father. He is The Father. That means He’s the measuring rod, not me. When we anthropomorphize God, we allow ourselves to stay in the same place while bringing Him down to our level. But when we dei-pomorphize ourselves, we elevate God to the highest place while striving to get closer and closer to him.

And this works across the board. We are told to “love our wives as Christ loved the church.” When we use the love of Jesus as the standard in our marriage, we have no choice but to work harder, get better, and love greater.

We are told to live the characteristics of the Holy Spirit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” These aren’t merely human qualities; they are attributes that God Himself possesses, and that can only be lived by the power and strength of the Holy Spirit.

So fathers: be like God. After all, He is THE Father. Raise your kids like God would raise them.

Husbands: love your wives like Christ loves you. I know, I know. That’s a tall order, but hey, God told you to do it, which means it’s possible.

And Christians: every single day, let every single characteristic of God, be it love, patience, or peace, shine brightly and obviously through your life for the whole world to see.

That’s how we’ll change the world.

“…the Love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who was given for us.” (Romans 5:5)